An air conditioner that quits at 11 p.m. in July, or a furnace that dies a few hours before a hard freeze, is not something to sit on until Monday. Our emergency HVAC service in Lexington, SC is set up for those moments. A person answers 24/7, listens to what the equipment is doing, and helps you decide whether a technician should come tonight or the house can safely hold until morning.
That decision depends on three things: the weather outside, the people inside, and whether the system is doing something dangerous. Some failures are merely uncomfortable. Others put health or property at risk within hours, and telling them apart saves you money.
What counts as an HVAC emergency?
Midlands summers routinely push into the 90s with heavy humidity, and a closed-up house without cooling can climb fast, especially upstairs in a two-story home with an attic air handler. Winters are mild, yet nights in the 20s arrive, and crawlspace plumbing under older brick ranches suffers.
| What you notice | Why it matters | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| No cooling and the indoor temperature keeps rising, with an infant, older adult, someone ill or pets at home | Heat illness can set in quickly | Call now |
| No heat with an overnight low near or below freezing | Risk to people and to pipes | Call now |
| Gas smell or a carbon monoxide alarm | Fire, explosion or poisoning risk | Leave the house, call 911, then call us |
| Burning smell, smoke, or a breaker that keeps tripping | Electrical fire risk | Kill power at the breaker, then call |
| Water dripping through a ceiling or pooling around the indoor unit | Drywall, insulation and flooring damage | Shut the system off, then call |
| Lightning strike, flood water or a fallen limb on the equipment | Hidden electrical and refrigerant damage | Do not restart it, call |
| Weaker cooling on a mild evening, or an odd noise while it still runs | Usually not urgent | Book a daytime visit |
Protecting people and the house before help arrives
Safety first
Gas odor in the house, or a CO detector going off, means everyone goes outside first. Call 911 or the gas utility from the yard, and leave light switches and the furnace untouched.Stop the damage
Turn the thermostat to off. A system that is short of refrigerant, overflowing its drain pan or overheating a motor only gets worse the longer it runs. If something smelled hot or scorched, switch off the HVAC breaker as well and leave it off.

Check the simple things once
A tripped breaker, dead thermostat batteries or a clogged filter can mimic a major failure. Reset a tripped breaker one time only. If it trips again, leave it alone; that is a fault that needs a meter, not another try.
Look after whoever is most vulnerable
In heat, gather everyone in the coolest room with fans, closed blinds and water. Heat stroke signs such as confusion, hot dry skin or fainting call for 911, not a contractor. In cold, use layers and blankets, keep space heaters on the floor with clear space around them, and never warm a house with an oven, grill or generator.

How our after-hours line works, and what we won't promise
Calls are answered 24/7. Expect a few quick questions: what the system is doing, how old it is, whether there is water, smell or noise, and who is living in the house. Those answers set the order of calls on a busy night: an infant in a hot bedroom outranks a tenant with a slow upstairs room.
We do not promise arrival in a set number of minutes. The honest answer depends on how many homes are already waiting and where you are. From our Lexington base, Oak Grove is roughly ten minutes away and West Columbia about twenty, but the first real heat wave, the first freeze and the hours after a big thunderstorm can stack calls up quickly. You will get a realistic window on the phone, and the technician calls ahead before arriving.
Four kinds of after-hours failure, each with its own page
An emergency call means phone triage, a safety check of gas, power and water, and one of three outcomes: fixed tonight, made safe until parts are available, or a written picture of what replacement involves. Central ACs, heat pumps, furnaces, air handlers and mini-splits in homes and small businesses are all covered. Each failure type has its own page:
- Emergency AC repair for a cooling system that stops on a hot night or weekend, with steps to keep the house bearable meanwhile.
- No-heat repair for furnaces and heat pumps that quit in cold weather, plus what to check before you call.
- AC water leak and clogged drain repair for water coming through a ceiling, out of a vent or around the air handler.
- Storm and power-surge HVAC repair for lightning, flooding, fallen limbs and outages, including how to document damage for an insurance claim.
- HVAC electrical repair for a scorched contactor, burned wire, dead disconnect or a breaker that will not stay on.
What the technician does once on site
The visit follows a set order so nothing dangerous gets skipped.
- Safety check. Gas lines and venting on fuel-burning equipment, signs of overheating or scorching, and water near anything electrical.
- Power path. Breaker, disconnect, fuses, transformer and the low-voltage circuit to the thermostat.
- Fault codes and readings. Control board blink codes, motor amperage, capacitor values and, on cooling or heat pump calls, refrigerant pressures.
- The cause, explained. You hear what failed, why it likely failed, and what the choices are.
- Your call. Repair it tonight if the part is on hand, make the system safe and hold until a supply house opens, or price a replacement if the equipment is finished.

Nothing gets done without your go-ahead, and the work area gets cleaned up before the technician leaves.

The rules don't change after dark
Emergency or not, residential heating and air work in this state is licensed by SC LLR's Residential Builders Commission, and commercial mechanical work by its Contractor's Licensing Board; anyone can check a contractor on LLR's website, so ask for the license number before night work starts. We are fully licensed and insured. EPA Section 608 requires refrigerant to be recovered, never vented, so a leak gets repaired rather than hurriedly topped off. A part swap is a repair, but new equipment typically needs a Town of Lexington or Lexington County permit. A gas leak goes to your gas utility or propane supplier first.
What drives the cost of a night or weekend visit
We do not publish prices; these are the variables:
- When you call. Late nights, weekends and holidays carry an after-hours rate.
- Diagnosis time. An intermittent electrical fault takes longer to pin down than a burned capacitor.
- Parts availability. If the part is not on the truck and the supply house is closed, the fix may come in two steps.
- Access. Attic air handlers in summer heat and tight crawlspaces add labor time.
- Refrigerant type. Older systems using R-22, which has not been produced in the US since 2020, cost more to recharge.
- Temporary versus permanent. Making a system safe overnight and finishing the next day can be the cheaper path.
The surest way to avoid an after-hours bill is a system checked twice a year. Our HVAC maintenance plans pair a spring cooling visit with a fall heating visit, and members move up the schedule and save on repairs; details come by phone.
Why a late-night call to Puzzled Comfort Solutions is different
This is an owner-operated Lexington company, so the person answering works on these systems and can judge how urgent your situation really is. Our Google reviews, 5.0 from 29, include a summer-night no-cool call with a baby at home and a heating failure ahead of a 25-degree night, and they repeat the same notes: calls ahead, explains the problem, cleans up. If the equipment is finished, we are a Bryant-authorized dealer, replacements are often installed within days, and the estimate is free. NATE certification and more than ten years in the trade sit behind each diagnosis. Veterans, first responders and health care workers get 15% off.
24/7 Emergency HVAC Service: pick the service you need

Emergency AC Repair
AC out on a 95-degree day? Emergency AC repair in Lexington, SC nights and weekends, with priority for infants and seniors.
Learn more
No-Heat Emergency Repair
No heat on a freezing night? Emergency furnace and heat pump repair in Lexington, SC with next-day replacement options.
Learn moreWhere we do 24/7 emergency hvac service around Lexington
A few of the communities we serve, and what this service usually looks like there.
- 24/7 Emergency HVAC Service in Lexington County
Night and weekend calls come from every corner of the county, Gilbert to Cayce.
- 24/7 Emergency HVAC Service in Oak Grove, SC
About ten minutes down US-1, so distance rarely slows a no-cool call.
- 24/7 Emergency HVAC Service in Red Bank, SC
Original 13 SEER-era systems tend to quit in the first long heat wave.
- 24/7 Emergency HVAC Service in West Columbia, SC
Mid-century homes near the river lose heat fast when an old furnace stops.
- 24/7 Emergency HVAC Service in Cayce, SC
Low ground that flooded in 2015 makes post-storm equipment checks urgent.
- 24/7 Emergency HVAC Service in Seven Oaks, SC
Crawlspace ducts under 1970s split-levels drip once a failing system runs nonstop.
- 24/7 Emergency HVAC Service in Irmo, SC
First-generation heat pumps near the dam often fail on the coldest mornings.
- 24/7 Emergency HVAC Service in Edmund, SC
Rural lots off SC-6 rely on one heat pump with no fallback heat.
Google reviews that mention work like 24/7 emergency hvac service
5.0 out of 5 from 29 Google reviews
“Puzzled Comfort solutions came recommended by a family member a few years ago and Chong is now our go-to person for anything HVAC and electrical related. He has saved us several times during emergency situations. Not only is Chong knowledgeable, he is trustworthy, professional, fair and efficient. During the heat of Summer, Chong came for emergency services when my HVAC went out while my nephew who was an infant was staying at my home. He fixed our issue quickly and had things up and running in no time. Recently, on Labor Day, while out of town we had a leak from our light fixture coming from the HVAC/roof. This could have easily turned into an electrical fire/problem and put my pets and house sitter at risk. Chong came out and fixed the issue within an hour and made sure our home was safe until he could get out there. I highly recommend using him for any of his services and we will now be on schedule for a bi-annual checkup to prevent further issues from happening. I have referred Chong to several friends and businesses who have felt the same about his great work. Thank you again!”
- Responsiveness
- Punctuality
- Quality
- Professionalism
- Value
“My A/C fan was on, but was not cooling. That was on a Friday night. I called the technician that night which was late at 8.45 pm. He said that he could get to me around 2 to 3 pm Saturday., I said I wanted to find someone tonight , but if I can’t find anyone could I call you back and he said yes. We used fans that night, but I call the Technician back at 9am the next morning.He was here by 10:30 am. He was very professional and explained everything that asked. He made sure to give me maintenance advice and a federal worker discount. I’m very happy and will call Puzzled Comfort Solutions again when needed.”
- Responsiveness
- Punctuality
- Quality
- Professionalism
- Value
Services: A/C system repair
Response from the owner: Thank you for your review and thank you for the opportunity to be able make your home comfortable again.
“Chong is independently owned very knowledgeable and Professional. I would highly recommend him to anyone and everyone our heat went out and it was going down to 25 the next night he came and was so caring and understanding to our needs as the unit was 25 years old and needed to be totally replaced he called and got a new unit and replaced it the next morning I am so gratefull to have found a honest and trustworthy person and very fair prices he is defintley the right person for any work you may need done and it will be done right!!!! Thanks Chong so much for the personable best care ever!!! Sincerely, Patti”
Services: Ductless heating & A/C services, Install AC, Heating system installation
What else do people ask before calling us at night?
Do you really answer HVAC calls 24/7?
Yes. Emergency calls are answered around the clock, including weekends and holidays. You reach a person who asks what the system is doing, who is in the home and whether anything smells, smokes or leaks. What we will not do is quote an arrival time we cannot keep. You get an honest estimate based on the calls already ahead of yours and the distance, and the technician calls before pulling up.
What counts as an HVAC emergency?
Treat it as urgent when the house is getting dangerously hot or cold for the people in it, especially infants, older adults or anyone medically fragile. Gas odor, a carbon monoxide alarm, a burning smell, repeated breaker trips and water pouring from a ceiling also qualify. Weak cooling on a mild night or a new noise from a system that still runs can usually wait for a daytime appointment, which costs less.
Is there an extra charge for after-hours service?
Nights, weekends and holidays generally cost more than a weekday appointment, because a technician is working outside normal hours and parts houses may be closed. Ask about the after-hours charge when you call and you will hear it before anyone is dispatched. If your situation can safely wait until morning, we will say so, and you can choose the regular schedule instead.
What should I do while I wait for the technician?
Shut the system off at the thermostat so a failing part does not make things worse, and leave the breaker off if you smelled burning. Keep people comfortable: one cooled or heated room, water, layers or fans as the weather calls for. Put towels or buckets under any leak. If anyone shows heat-stroke symptoms, or a gas or carbon monoxide alarm sounds, get outside and call 911 first.
Still have a question about 24/7 emergency hvac service? Ask us directly.
Call (213) 423-7827
